As the world is burning on every possible front, one of the topics that has shaken up the world (or at least the USA) is the new campaign from American Eagle featuring Sydney Sweeney.
As many of you asked me (literally one person asked me – evidence I’m disclosing), I felt intrigued to comment on this, from a marketing perspective with a pinch of my personal view – of course.
My fan to me: “We are waiting for the post about Sydney Sweeny” <3
Small intro: Sydney Sweeney, an American actress recognized also as one of the s*x symbols of today, did a commercial for American Eagle in which she is putting on jeans seductively and talking about how she has good genes (jeans-wordplay), with a punchline that pinched half of the USA: “My jeans are blue.”
While the rest of the world might be shocked as to why this even caused so much drama (as clearly they are referring to “blue jeans”) let me break it down in this analysis:
1. Political context
Every campaign should be put in a wider context than just its aim (spoiler: profit). In this case, the context is U.S. territory and the current political atmosphere there. While I’m not commenting here on their politics (we have our own problems here in Serbia), the fact is that there is a higher-than-ever ideological polarization between Democrats and Republicans, blurring all the layers in between. This says a lot about how, communication-wise, it’s a very sensitive place to speak freely and not be taken one way or another.
2. Social situation
With the rise of woke culture in America came important questions about minority groups and those less fortunate in the “promised land.” Along with that came a lot of extreme groups measuring every single word or act and using it to attack other groups and companies.
“Woke” initially meant being aware of systemic injustice, but over the last few years, it also became a buzzword used to criticize branding.
While here we might say, “Oh, a large group reacted – that must mean something,” on the other hand, nobody commented on the fact that once again we are s*xualizing a woman’s body in the 21st century. Didn’t we learn anything? Wasn’t woke also about that? Or are we just selectively picking one topic of the month to focus on?
3. Economic context
The budget U.S. citizens are spending for Back to School (this campaign is targeting that occasion) this year is $30.9 billion, according to Deloitte’s annual survey which is quite a budget, especially with retailers lately struggling with sales and volume. Despite everything, even if the situation were normal, there is a very large number of brands competing for that part of the parents’ limited budget. For every retailer, Q4 season with Back to School, Halloween, and Christmas is “make it or break it”. No wonder, CMO of American Eagle, Craig Brommer for the Marketing Dive shared:
“I think the industry is seeing potential modest growth during this back-to-school season, and that’s why I think we’re going to have to compete harder than ever to earn the mind-share and earn the market share that we feel like we deserve.”
4. Company context
CMO of American Eagle Outfitters Inc. , Craig Brommers, reported earlier to Marketing Dive that their goal is to stay relevant in the industry. Even under these circumstances, they want to heavily invest in marketing – because that is how you stay relevant.
It’s not just this controversial ad. They really put effort into appealing to Gen Z: introducing Sydney as a main ambassador, developing Snapchat filters so you can try on your favorite jeans before purchase, OOH crative campaigns, and more.
If someone thinks this was unintentional – well, that would be wrong. Companies with scale like American Eagle have large marketing teams and external agencies they work with, so they were very much aware of what they were doing. Playing with words is aimed to provoke. Did they know it would cause this much drama? That’s for all of us to question. But as with any edgy campaign, companies always know what they’re aiming for and what it might cost them.
In this calculation, I believe they did the math. Business of Fashion reports that American Eagle’s stock increased 16% immediately after launching the campaign. After “tweet” from President Trump, the stock increased even further, posting a 24% rise in a single day, according to @Adweek.
5. Reputation
Although the results spoke for themselves (as we know, that’s not the only measure – at least not among marketers like us… me and you, my friend reading this), the U.S. is a large market with almost 350 million people. You definitely can’t talk to everyone and expect everyone to like you. Even if it’s just half – that’s still a pretty good half of the market cake.
In the past, American Eagle had some very inclusive campaigns, showing a wide range of representatives of their rich nation. The question that pops up now is – was it all fake?
As part of latest American Eagle’s campaign, they created “The Sydney Jeans”, marked with a butterfly motif to symbolize domestic violence awareness. But nobody paid attention to that.
“‘Sydney Sweeney has great jeans’ is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone,” the company said.
To conclude:
Was it worth it?
For the company: Yes.
For the politicians: Yes – for both sides.
For the actress: Hmm, there have been strong attacks on her personality and background, so this could affect her reputation and future arrangements. Big question mark.
For the people? Until the next scandal.
So even though there isn’t any real damage – there’s always at least one side hurt.